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Assessing Security, Privacy, User Interaction, and Accessibility Features in Popular E-Payment Applications

Published: 16 October 2023 Publication History
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    Mobile payment applications facilitate quick digital transactions; thus, evaluating these applications for security, privacy, user interaction, and accessibility is crucial. In our study, we analyzed the most downloaded 50 mobile payment applications on Google Play Store. Thereafter, we used three open-source tools (MobSF, AndroBugs, and RiskInDroid) to assess their security and privacy features. We then employed Microsoft’s Accessibility Insights for accessibility analysis and evaluated 1,886,352 Google Play Store reviews, specifically 90,494 with negative sentiments [score < = 0], to understand user interaction issues. Our analysis shows that at least one security vulnerability, such as those associated with SSL, digital certificates, third-party libraries, weak encryption methods, and network configurations, exists in each application. We also find that both user-reported and tool-detected issues compromise privacy protection principles, such as data minimization, transparency, and purpose limitation. Additionally, we identify 2,768 accessibility issues, mainly relating to touch input sizes, accessible names of view objects, and meaningful alternative text for images. Also, of privacy and security concerns originate from user account access issues, while of usability concerns stem from app options not functioning as expected. Based on our findings, we propose recommendations to improve the overall robustness of these applications.

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          EuroUSEC '23: Proceedings of the 2023 European Symposium on Usable Security
          October 2023
          364 pages
          ISBN:9798400708145
          DOI:10.1145/3617072
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          Published: 16 October 2023

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          1. e-payment applications
          2. privacy
          3. security
          4. user interaction

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